Infinity War Epilogue: Meeting
by cornholio4
Summary: Massive Spoilers for Infinity War. After the events of the movie Steve has an encounter with someone. Oneshot.


Steve Rogers was wandering about the Wakandan jungles angry and upset. It had appeared that Thanos succeeded in wiping out half the universe and Bucky was among that half. He had to do something; he could not let Thanos get away with it.

"There is still a chance you know Captain, you find Thanos and the Infinity Stones and you can use them to undo all this." said a voice that Steve had not heard in a long time. He was faced with a ghostly figure in a dark cloak and had a bald red skinned face.

"Schmidt the Red Skull, you should be dead..." Steve muttered readying the collapsible shield he had gotten from the Wakandans. Schmidt gave a humourless laugh.

"You're one to talk Captain, I think in the back of your mind especially when you saw what the Tesseract was capable of, bringing the aliens to New York that I would have survived like you have. The Tesseract sent me to a planet called Vormir to guard its brother the Soul Stone. Thanos came and gave the sacrifice needed to get the stone from its hiding spot. I had been there not aging, acting as the guardian and keeper of the Soul Stone. Now that I don't have to do so anymore, I have decided to come here." Schmidt explained to Steve who was getting ready.

"So what? Are you here to round up the remaining HYDRA followers that survived all this, which they can rise up, again once they learn their founder, has returned..." Steve asked as Schmidt shook his head.

"HYDRA is dead Captain, if any of the remnants of HYDRA came to me I would turn them down. Telling them that this time there will be no heads growing back." Schmidt told him with a shrug with Steve looking at him all confused.

"Okay you look and sound like the Red Skull but you are not behaving like him." Steve commented as the Schmidt laughed.

"I was stuck as the keeper of the Soul Stone for close to seventy years Captain, unable to claim the power that I was guarding. I was able to see throughout the universe but unable to do anything, it gave me plenty of time to think and now I just wanted someone to talk to." Schmidt told him and Steve gave him a look that said he was listening.

"You know it's funny, I always dreamed of leaving humanity behind and become a god to the people of Earth. I now have none of my humanity and I am pretty much immortal but stuck like this in the same location made me lose the appeal of the power I coveted. I saw warlord after warlord thinking they had what it took to take the Soul Stone only for them to have nothing they loved in order to sacrifice. They only loved power and was not that much different from how I was on Earth. After meeting hundreds like me made me hate myself. I spent my time admiring Zola in continuing the HYDRA name by invading Stark and Carter's SHIELD project. How they were building a world chaotic so the citizens would be forced to relinquish their freedom. I dreamed of coming home to take my place as Supreme HYDRA of this new world, but soon the disgust of seeing those like me destroyed those dreams. So I looked through the various leaders HYDRA had with disgust: Karpov, Pierce and Strucker. Those who I would have been proud to be my successors I now look at with disgust." Schmidt told him softly as Steve shook his head.

"Unbelievable, becoming an immortal alien deity actually humbled you Schmidt. To think the being I am talking to was the Nazi Super Soldier." Steve laughed not helping but to appreciate the irony and humour of the situation.

"All my time in the SS, kissing up to Hitler to get my spot in his inner circle, building HYDRA to take over the world... I never beleive that I would think myself undeserving of the power I coveted but here I am... talking to the man humble and deserving of the power he has." Schmidt told him.

"So what happens now Schmidt?" Steve asked wondering if this was the end of the conversation.

"What happens now? We go our separate ways forever. I shall explore the universe and find something else for me there. You go out and find Thanos and the Infinity Stones, you and the Avengers do what you do to fix all this. To avenge the half of a universe lost and bring them all back. Because that's what you and the Avengers do." Schmidt told him before disappearing into darkness.

"Good luck with your future Schmidt." Steve decided to tell him and Schmidt smiled back at him. Not an arrogant 'I will win and you will lose hero' type of smile that he saw on Schmidt before but a genuine smile as if he was saying goodbye to an old friend.

"Same to you Captain..." Schmidt finished as he disappeared.

"Just when I thought I had seen everything that there is for me to see..." Steve muttered knowing what he had to do next. He guessed this was as much closure as he was ever going to get with Schmidt and HYDRA.

 **I had been planning this oneshot ever since I saw the Skull in the movie today. At first I thought that Lady Death was a male but then when he shown himself to be the Skull there were muttering in the theatre. Not Hugo Weaving I know but this was awesome to see.**


End file.
